Tuesday, November 25, 2008

I actually just got a pang of something weird when I typed that number in. 35 (36) days left in the year? Really? That's it? I actually feel really sad about that (today. tomorrow, I might decide to spend the afternoon jumping on the bed.)

Thank you so much for the wonderful birthday wishes, and for the great comments directed towards Adam. He read every one of them. Probably thrice. I've got a lot of scheming to do before his birthday, but it looks like he's going to be spending it with a thousand women for BlogHer.... that's a good gift, right?

I've never made Chicken Adobo before. My grandma read me this recipe over the phone out of a xeroxed booklet of International Food put out by my first grade class. We all really liked the chicken a lot, and have a bunch saved in the freezer for future soups. Thank you, grandma, for keeping the booklet!

If you have the time to assemble the chicken in a plastic zipper bag with the salt, pepper, soy sauce, garlic, and vinegar the night before, do so. The chicken will be much more flavorful if left to marinate overnight.Then dump out in the morning on top of the vegetables.

I used a 6.5 quart crockpot. If you use 3 pounds of chicken, everything will fit in a 4 quart or larger.

Rub the chicken with salt, pepper, and crushed garlic. If using a whole chicken, shove 2 bay leaves inside. Set aside.

Slice the onion in rings and place the rings at the bottom of the crockpot. Add in the shredded carrot---I used the bagged shredded carrot to save time. Put the chicken on top. Pour in the soy sauce and vinegar.

Cook on low for 7-8 hours, or on high for 4-5. This is done when the chicken is cooked through and has reached desired tenderness.

I cooked our whole chicken on high for exactly 4 hours. It was fully cooked, but completely fell apart. The vinegar is such a tenderizer that I wouldn't attempt this again with bone-in chicken--the bones freak me out with the kids.

The Verdict.

Delicious. This results in very flavorful and moist chicken. There is a lot of juice, and we served it over basmati rice. The kids each ate a plateful. When I make it again, I might put in some shredded cabbage---Adam and I both really liked the pickled vegetables an awful lot.

40 comments:

Cathy
said...

Thanks for yet another great recipe! I used your turkey breast recipe yesterday and sent my two children off to preschool with lots of turkey for their Thanksgiving Feast!! Woo hoo! The turkey fell off the bone.

But I need to know more about you - no vacations this year? Or did the crock pot travel?

Chicken adobo is supposed to fall off the bones, or at least every version of it that was brought to pot lucks in the 7 years I worked in Brisbane did.

Great blog - I have used a bunch of your recipes and check it every day. My cousin Kris O - your mom grew up with her husband, turned me on to it and you have given me renewed crockpot zeal - so much so that my old one died and I had to by a new smart pot. Thanks again - Lu Peearson

I just wanted to say thank you! I've been reading your blog for about a month now as I rev up to becoming gluten-free (I recently was diagnosed w/ Celiac's Disease). Anyway I am making my first recipe from your blog today! A whole chicken! The skinning part is ewwy, but not as ewwy as the fat! I lived through it though and I can't wait to try it tonight!! I covered it in butter, thyme, rosemary, stuffed it with apple slices and garlic and covered it in bacon slices. Sooo.... it might not be as healthy as yours, but it will be good!! Gluten-free too! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll be so sad when the year is over!

This is the national dish Of the Philippines. Often it is made with both chicken and pork though. My dh is Filipino so we make it often. I make it with chicken since we don't eat pork anymore. I have never made it in a crockpot but my dd does and I can see it would be a good dish for the crockpot. There are many variations...we do not put carrots in ours but we do like to add a little bit of brown sugar.

Indian pudding is baked custard with milk, butter, molasses, eggs, spices, and cornmeal. Few desserts look so completely unappetizing yet taste so incredibly good. One bite of this lumpy, brown mush, with a dab of vanilla ice cream, and you’ll be sold. This is a traditional New England Thanksgiving classic.

Carefully, scald the milk and butter in a large non-stick pot. Or heat the milk and butter for 5 or 6 minutes on high heat in the microwave, until it is boiling, then transfer it to a pot on the stove. Keep hot on medium heat.

In a separate bowl, mix cornmeal, salt; stir in molasses. Thin the mixture with about 1/2 cup of scalded milk, a few tablespoons at a time, and then gradually add the mixture back to the large pot of scalded milk. Continue to cook, stirring until thickened. Reduce heat to simmer, and be careful – the hot mixture will continue to bubble and can splash and cause burns.

In a separate bowl, whisk 3 eggs. Temper the eggs by slowly adding a half cup of the hot cornmeal mixture to the beaten eggs, whisking constantly. Add the egg mixture back in with the hot cornmeal mixture, stir to combine. Stir in the sugar and spices, until smooth.

Grease the inside of a 4-6qt Crock Pot. Carefully pour thickened pudding into the Crock Pot and cook on high for 3-4 hours. DO NOT LEAVE ALONE – stir mixture every half hour until done.

Allow the pudding to cool slightly before serving with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Can be stored in the fridge but it should be reheated to warm temperature before serving.

'twas the night before thanksgiving...Hello, I just found your site from another GF favorite. I am up late after baking 3 desserts and chopping a ton of celery and onions and toasting the GF bread for stuffing. My sweetheart and the babies are asleep...I should be too but I had to wish you a happy birthday! The 24th is my day too. I'll be back here to visit after the Thanksgiving dust settles to browse for ideas.HR

Made this with shredded cabbage and carrots, and added a little frozen coconut milk I had left in the frezzer. Also added a bay leaf and some whole black peppercorns since those are pretty common in adobo recipes. This was very clean-tasting. it grew on me the more I ate it the more I liked it.

i'm half filipino and have never thought about doing chicken adobo in crockpot. i do it the old fashioned way. never heard of carrots in it either. but i guess that can vary recipe to recipe. i cook it in my mom's traditional way :)

Ohmygoodness. I have a brand new crockpot well, almost new, only used once to make a yummy winter grog called "Lamb's Wool", but I digress --the nearly new crockpot languished for months without a mission, until I found this site!Tonight's dinner was Chicken Adobo, and my two semi-picky eaters couldn't get enough of it! I used 2 packages of whole boneless chicken breasts and served it over couscous (but we're not a GF household so some wheat is okay here). There's more than enough left over for at least two more meals, and I can't wait to see how a little more time soaking up those soy/vinegar essences makes the chicken ever more delicious. My crockpot thanks you for giving it a second lease on life. My family thanks you for a mouthwatering twist on chicken and rice dishes. And I thank you for helping me to make "real food" without breaking the budget, without heating up my kitchen on a hot June day, and without complicated prep! After the adobo's a-gone-o, we're tackling Mongolian beef, nom nom nom!

I made this the other night and it was great! I did the marinade, and I am not sorry. It was a little too peppery for my taste, but my roommate suggests that the pepper here in Brazil is more concentrated than pepper in the States. Next time I make it here, I might try using less pepper. Thanks for all your great ideas!

My husband is Filipino and this dish is a staple in our kitchen. He makes is usually not because I suck at cooking but because it's HIS dish. I love it! It's one of the best home cooked meals I've ever had and now with this slow cooker recipe you posted I can wow him with his. I'm traditionally the cook! I mean I'm the one that wants to be a chef someday! I'd like to marry the flavors of my Turkish background with his Filipino one and then see what happens! I can't wait to try out your slow cooker recipe though! Thank you so much!!!!

I put this in to cook this afternoon and just tasted a bite. It's delicious! When visiting friends, one of whom was Filipino, earlier this year we were introduced to chicken adobo. She made it with adobo, onion and italian salad dressing - marinated and then cooked on the stove. I made it about 50 times in the first couple of months (creating my own adobo - it was never quite the same) and I adapted it to the crockpot using dried italian salad dressing packets (the regular dressing is ok in the crockpot, but gets kind of goopy). This year we cut many ingredients out of our diets, including most of the ingredients in italian salad dressing and I haven't made it since - instead making a white wine and garlic chicken as my default chicken. I am so excited to find this idea. I don't normally follow recipes but I love to scour your site for ideas, cooking times and most importantly - your verdict. I recently started working with Diane Eblin's husband and was excited to hear you are friends : )

I made this last weekend and it was so good! I was a little worried at how much it smelled of soy sauce after the chicken marinated all night but I was surprised at how rich the flavor turned out to be for the few ingredients that were needed! I used chicken breasts and they easily fell apart, also I just chopped up the carrots and they fell apart too by the end of the cooking time. We ate it with brown rice for two nights and then with tortilla chips. Definitely a recipe I'll make again!

I have made chicken adobo in the crock pot for years, following a very similar recipe. The few differences: I cut up potatoes and carrots and put them on the bottom of the pot (chicken and everything else sits on top), and I have found that coconut vinegar is ideal. My husband used to hate it when I would make adobo. A friend suggested I try coconut vinegar (most Asian grocery stores should have it; I'm in the SF bay area and found it at a Ranch 99 along with an astounding amount of other vinegars) and I will never make it without this stuff again.

I just put this in the crockpot for dinner tonight. I looked up authentic chicken adobo to compare ingredients. Everything was the same except it also called for 2 Tbs of brown sugar. I also marinated my meat for two days to give it more flavor.

I worked at a daycare many years ago at a military post I was stationed at. We had a Filipino lady who was a cook there and she made this dish for the kids all the time. That's where I first heard it, but over time I forgot about it until I came across it on your site. I'm going to make some sticky rice in my rice cooker to go along with it. I can't wait!

I can't wait to try this!! My husband is Filipino and I have never been able to make anything for him. However, his mom usually makes it with potatoes. Can I just add potatoes with the chicken? Do I need to add any water? Any feedback would help!! Thanks!!

Hi Marisa, yes! You can put washed whole potatoes right on top, or you can dice them if you want the potatoes in the dish. No need for extra moisture; there's enough in here!You might need to increase cooking time -- check after the allotted time and poke at the potatoes.